I saw this image the other day, and it got me thinking.
At first glance, it looks like one of those simple puzzles designed to make you stop scrolling and stare at your phone for longer than you planned. Move one stick and make the number smaller than 731. Most people immediately start searching for the answer, assuming there is one correct move that proves they solved it.
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The more interesting part is that there are several ways to get there. Depending on which stick you move, you can create 131, 78, or 73. Different moves, different answers, same result. Every one of them makes the number smaller.
We do the same thing in our careers all the time. We look at the people ahead of us and assume their path is the path, so we copy their decisions, chase their titles, and measure our progress against a route that may never have made sense for us. Someone else went to graduate school, so we think we need another degree. Someone else changed companies every two years, so we assume we should leave. Someone else stayed for fifteen years and became an executive, so we decide patience must always be the answer.
Success is rarely that clean.
One person gets there by becoming exceptional at one specific craft, while someone else gets there by building relationships across an entire industry. One person takes a pay cut to enter a better field, while another negotiates for more money and uses the income to create freedom elsewhere. One person climbs inside a large company, while another leaves the company entirely and builds something of their own.
The move that worked for someone else may make your situation worse. You may not need another promotion. You may need a different boss. You may not need to leave the company. You may need to change how people inside the company see you. You may not need more confidence. You may simply need enough discomfort to finally do the thing you have been avoiding.
We say we want more money when what we really want is more control. We say we want a new title when what we really want is recognition.
A lot of career frustration comes from trying to solve the wrong version of the problem. We say we want more money when what we really want is more control. We say we want a new title when what we really want is recognition. We say we want to quit when what we really want is for the environment around us to stop draining the life out of us. Once you identify the real problem, you usually discover there are more ways to solve it than you originally thought.
That does not mean every move works, and it does not mean you should start pulling sticks off the wall and hoping something improves. It means you need to become more willing to experiment, pay attention, and admit when the path you chose is no longer producing the result you want.
Careers are long enough to make several moves, test different directions, and adjust before one decision becomes your entire identity.
There is no universal formula for success, which is frustrating for people who want a clean answer and freeing for everyone willing to create their own. Your version of success may be leadership, money, flexibility, ownership, meaningful work, time with your family, or the ability to walk away from a bad situation without panicking. The goal is not to find the move everyone else agrees with. The goal is to find the move that makes your life better.
The puzzle asks you to make the number smaller, but it never tells you exactly how to do it. Your career works the same way. There are several ways forward, several definitions of winning, and several moves that can change the outcome. Stop waiting for someone else to hand you the answer and start finding the one that works for you.